Thousands flee Zambezi flooding

source: BBC News
By Peter Greste
BBC News, Maputo

Some 45,000 people in Mozambique have been displaced by flooding along the Zambezi valley, authorities say.

They say between 150,000 and 200,000 people could be affected over the coming weeks if forecast rains fall in upper reaches of the valley.

January is usually the middle of the wet season for southern Africa but it is rarely as wet as this.

The Zambezi has already burst its banks in some areas forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.

And the river is continuing to rise.

Relentless

Across northern Zimbabwe, southern Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, relentless rain has [continue reading]

Thunderstorms delay Johannesburg trains

source: News24
04/01/2008 13:08  – (SA)

Johannesburg – Morning trains in the Johannesburg and surrounding areas were delayed on Friday due to technical problems caused by thunderstorms, Metrorail said.

“Most of our trains in the Veereniging, Soweto and the Germiston areas were delayed due to technical problems.

“The overhead power cables were faulty because they became flooded with water during thunder storms, making it difficult for us to run trains,” said spokesperson Sibusiso Ngomane.

Ngomane said trains were delayed for about 10 to 15 minutes while the technicians were busy restoring the service, which was cut due to water flooding.

“The delay could take longer sometimes depending on the damage, but we are happy we did not have any cancellations. And not many commuters were affected because most [continue reading]

Cold weather heads for Cape

source: News24
23/08/2007 23:06 – (SA)

Arnold Ras, Die Burger

Cape Town – Friday and this coming Sunday won’t be as “beach-friendly” as last weekend.

On Saturday temperatures of 20°C and above are forecast for most of the Western Cape, and there will be no rain over the Cape Peninsula, Boland, Grabouw and the south-western Cape coast up to Hangklip.

On Sunday and Monday more cold and wet weather can be expected in the Western Cape.

The cold and wet conditions are expected to be back on Sunday.

A strong north-westerly wind will blow and [continue reading]

Floods will kill more in SA

source: News24
23/08/2007 07:30  – (SA)
Anesca Smith, Die Burger

Cape Town – Floods claim more than 7 000 lives a year worldwide and are the most commonly occurring natural disaster in South Africa, Parliament heard this week.

The South African Weather Service expressed concern over an increase in this phenomenon and said it was not clear to what extent global warming would worsen the situation.

There were very few weather radars in the Southern African region besides South Africa’s, which made forecasting more difficult.

Eugene Poolman of the Weather Service said most of the flooding in this region occurred in the southern and eastern part of the sub-continent.

Between 1920 and the present, floods were the most common natural disasters in South Africa as well as Mozambique.

The number of people who had died as [contiue reading]

SA: Sunny, warm weather ahead

source: IOL
August 08 2007 at 04:26PM

South Africans can look forward to sunny and warm weather this weekend, the South African Weather Service said on Wednesday.

Spokesperson Mnikeli Ndabambi said sunny and warmer weather was expected from Thursday through to Sunday.

Only the south-western and southern parts of the country could expect some more wintry weather, he said.

Ndabambi said a high pressure system has re-establishing itself over the northern parts of the country and so sunny and warmer weather would return and persist through the weekend.

Strong north-westerly winds were expected in the western interior on Thursday.

Warm to hot, dry and windy conditions would generate conditions favourable for the development of runaway fires in the Eastern Cape on Thursday, spreading to KwaZulu-Natal on Friday.

These conditions were expected to reach the [continue reading]

SA: More than 38 000 hit by Cape floods

source: IOL

July 30 2007 at 04:19AM

By Karen Breytenbach and Caryn Dolley

More than 38 000 people from 49 areas in greater Cape Town are affected by the flooding, says Disaster Management, which with its NGO partners is providing meals for 18 000 of those worst affected.

Flooding was also reported on the West Coast and in the Overberg.

The rapid growth in informal settlements in the past three years, from 178 to 226, may be at the heart of the problem, Disaster Management spokesperson Johan Minnie said on Sunday.

“I’m not a housing expert, but that is a drastic increase,” he said.

Although nine shelters had been made available, only about 100 people had moved there, because many of those affected feared that leaving their homes unoccupied would invite burglaries.

Formal areas such as Heideveld, parts of Gugulethu and Athlone – where the Vygieskraal Canal burst its banks on Saturday – were severely affected, but the situation was most dire in informal low-lying areas such as Philippi, Klipfontein, Nyanga, Khayelitsha Site B, Crossroads, Lwandle in Strand and Doornbach in Milnerton, said Minnie.

Mayor Helen Zille, with an entourage from Disaster Management, visited Little Kosovo, Section Six in Philippi and Heideveld.

“It was terrible. If four major storms hit consecutively, there is nothing one can do about it. The problem is that people settled in low-lying areas,” said Zille.

She said people urgently needed to be moved to higher-lying, drier areas, and pollution and litter in the storm water had to be dealt with to [continue reading]

SA: Flood-ravaged Cape prepares for more rain

source: IOL

July 29 2007 at 11:40AM

Cape Town disaster management services are gearing up for more heavy rain expected to hit the already flood-ravaged city next week.

Disaster management spokesperson, Johan Minnie, said rain was expected to stop for three days after Sunday.

However, relief services were standing by as more rain was expected on Wednesday, he said.

About 30 000 people had been affected, with varying degrees of severity, by the floods in Cape Town.

The floods have affected the most people ever, said Minnie.

He said this could be due to the increase of the city’s population, particularly those settling on land not developed with infrastructure, like on flat plains or near vleis.

The most recent incident was [continue reading]

Cape Town: `Very cold` winter warning

source: news24

27/07/2007 20:57  – (SA)

Cape Town – Eight community halls have been opened for people forced out of their homes by flood waters after a massive cold front brought heavy rain to Cape Town and surrounding areas on Thursday night.

“The facilities are open to people who decide to use them, although many people have decided to stay in their homes,” Johan Minnie, spokesperson for the city’s Disaster Risk Management Centre, said shortly after 16:30 on Friday.

Earlier, the centre said an estimated 10 000 people, mainly residents of the hard-hit informal settlements on the Cape Flats east of the city, had been affected by the flooding.

Gale-force winds and torrential rain throughout the night wreaked havoc across the area. The rain let up around midday on Friday, although another, smaller, front is expected to hit the region on Saturday afternoon.

Minnie said teams from various city departments and services had been busy throughout Friday dealing with local flooding in several areas.

The Pholo Park settlement near Philippi had posed the “major problem”, but all [continue reading]

SA: Sutherland snow closes roads

source: IOL

July 27 2007 at 11:32AM

Heavy snow has led to the closure of roads to Sutherland in the Northern Cape, officials said on Friday.

Sutherland municipal administration officer Anton Mietas said roads leading to the municipality were closed as it was dangerous to drive there.

“The roads are not accessible,” he said.

Roads would be closed for traffic from [continue reading]

SA: Storms hit Western Cape

source: news24
24/07/2007 18:21  – (SA)

Johannesburg – The Weather Service says snowfall and thunderstorms are expected in the southern and western parts of the country.

A cold front over the Western Cape on Tuesday night is expected to result in heavy rainfalls and thunderstorms in the extreme south-western parts of the province.

Snowfall is possible over the western high ground of the Western Cape from Tuesday night until Wednesday morning, extending to the mountain peaks of the Eastern Cape and could even reach the southern KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg by Wednesday night.

The service predicted that very rough seas could be expected to persist from Lamberts Bay to East London spreading to Port St Johns on Wednesday night with gale force winds expected from Port Alfred to Port St Johns.

A spokesperson said: “Another cold front will approach the Cape south-west coast on Thursday, although it will remain very cold in places over the southern interior due to the previous cold front.

“Strong to gale force winds accompanied by [continue reading]

SA: Four big storms on way to batter Cape Town

source: IOL
July 23 2007 at 11:40AM

By Henri du Plessis

Hold on to your hats and keep the raincoats handy, because Cape Town is facing a bitterly cold week with wild and windy weather.

Gale-force winds, heavy rain and rough seas will lash the Peninsula throughout this week, as a series of four storms approaches from the Southern Ocean, weather experts warn.

The first wave is expected to strike on Monday with increasing wind speeds, but wait until Thursday because you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Heavy seas, with a swell height ranging between seven and eight metres and increasing to nine and 10 metres offshore, were expected for this period, said Jean-Pierre Arabonis of Ocean Satellite Imaging Systems.

Arabonis, who provides a weather warning service to ships at sea, warned that [continue reading]

Snow wreaks havoc across SA

source: IOL

June 28 2007 at 04:24AM

By Caryn Dolley, Gill Gifford and Ingrid Oellermann

A huge swathe of South Africa is still battling the aftermath of one of the heaviest snowfalls in decades, which trapped hundreds of motorists, isolated towns and caused flight delays.

There was widespread chaos as temperatures remained doggedly below zero and snow, which began falling late on Tuesday, continued in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape on Wednesday.

See all your snow pictures.

Pretoria, which last saw snow in June 1968, had light snowfalls in the suburb of Waverley.

And in Johannesburg, in the first real snowfall since 1981, a homeless man was found dead.

Flights to and from OR Tambo International Airport were delayed for up to three hours because of layers of ice and snow covering aircraft.

Emergency services workers had to hose down aircraft to remove the ice.

The cold weather also set a record on Wednesday as Eskom reported a new morning peak in Gauteng.

“We are concerned that the cold will put additional pressure on an already tight electricity supply system,” said Eskom spokesperson Sipho Neke.

KwaZulu-Natal had its heaviest snow in three years, with [continue reading]

Place of gold turned snow white

source: IOL

June 27 2007 at 10:39AM

By Solly Maphumulo

Excited Joburgers braved the cold this morning just to watch the snow and play with it.

By 8am the Johannesburg Zoo, which was covered in a thick blanket of snow, was bustling with people strolling and enjoying the unusual scenery.

The young and old were playing games in the snow, making snow angels and snowmen and throwing snow balls at each other. Even the dogs became part of the game as they ran around in the snow.

‘I just stopped to appreciate and admire the beauty of the snow’
Hayley Broug of Parkview and her son Dylan brought a bucket, a small rake and a scoop to collect the snow.

“We have got to collect as much snow as possible so that we will build a snowman. This is amazing, the snow is so beautiful. This is great, it brings the excitement to the kids and to old people,” an elated Broug said as she built her snowman.

More and more motorists [continue reading]

SA: Cape dams reaching 65 percent

source: IOL
Cape Times
Environment Writer
June 12 2007 at 10:44AM

Dams supplying Cape Town are 65 percent full after a week’s soaking rains and are likely to reach 70 percent by the end of the week.

The 65 percent level is higher than it has been in June for many years.

The total dam level was 58 percent in June 2006, 42 percent in 2005, 32 percent in 2004 and 56 percent in 2003.

Theewaterskloof rose from 55,9 percent on Monday last week to 62,7 percent on Monday; Voelvlei from 64,6 percent last week to 72,1 percent; Steenbras Upper from 74,7 percent to 77,5 percent, Steenbras Lower from 49,4 percent to 52,1 percent and Wemmershoek from 51,1 percent to 64,2 percent.

Rainfall measured over the weekend, from 8am on June 9 to 8am on Monday, was 85-millimetres at Newlands, 48-millimetres at Steenbras, 85,5-millimetres on Table Mountain, 33-millimetres at Voelvlei and 23-millimetres at Wemmershoek.

The rainfall for Newlands for June so far is 150-millimetres, compared with an average for the full month of 288-millimetres.

There has been 90-millimetres of rain at [continue reading]

Weather causes chaos in Western Cape

source: IOL
June 08 2007 at 04:31AM

By Caryn Dolley, Noah Barron and Wesley April

Heavy rains have wreaked havoc, with flooding in Moorreesburg, the derailment of a freight train in which a Transnet worker was seriously injured, and gridlock paralysing major routes throughout Cape Town.

In Moorreesburg, about 100km from Cape Town, about 18 people whose homes were damaged by torrential rain were moved to the Rosenhof Community Hall.

The levels of the Berg and Olifants had risen dangerously and the rivers were threatening to burst their banks.

About 118mm of rain had fallen since Wednesday afternoon, said Wilhelm Markus, director of corporate services of the West Coast District Municipality.

“It’s still raining,” he said, speaking at noon.

“The area, localised to the town itself, is flooded.

“No injuries have been reported, but [continue reading]

Record wet weather for Jhb

source: news24
07/06/2007 09:11  – (SA)

Schalk Mouton, Beeld

Johannesburg – The record books were rewritten on Wednesday when Johannesburg experienced the wettest day in June in 44 years.

Not that rain was strange – but it was strange that it rained so much, said the South African Weather Service.

According to Mark Todd, a weather forecaster, the shower of rain was one of the biggest yet recorded in June in Johannesburg and Pretoria.

In Johannesburg it was the most rain in 24 hours since 1963. In Pretoria it almost equalled the 1989 record of 36mm.

In Johannesburg 25mm was measured between 08:00 on Tuesday and 08:00 on Wednesday. At Irene outside Pretoria, 33mm was measured.

Hail as well

Johannesburg’s rainfall record for June was 31mm, which fell on June 12 1963.

“That excludes the large shower of rain that fell after 08:00,” said Todd. It continued to rain in and around the city on Wednesday morning and according to Todd another 14mm had fallen in Johannesburg by 14:00. That could mean another record.

The rain was accompanied by hail.

The East Rand experienced a huge hailstorm and reports of hail were also received from the West Rand and Pretoria.

According to Todd this hail [continue reading]

SA: Roads closed after floods

source: new24
07/06/2007 16:02  – (SA)

Porterville – Rainstorms resulted in heavy flooding on the R44 in the Western Cape on Wednesday, forcing police to block some of the surrounding roads.

The flooding occurred between Gouda and Porterville on the R44, said Superintendent Errol Mekeur of Porterville police.

Mekeur said the most flooding occurred in the Sarons area and police blocked off the surrounding roads. They redirected motorists to the N7 as an alternative route.

No one was injured and there were no accidents.

Mekeur said police were monitoring the roads and were all on stand by in case of any emergencies. new24

SA: Winter rain wreaks havoc in Pretoria

source: IOL
June 07 2007 at 04:29AM

By Graeme Hosken, Janine du Plessis and Xolani Mbanjwa

Chaos erupted on Pretoria’s roads on Wednesday after unexpected heavy downpours and hail during the early hours of the morning.

Power outages attributed to the stormy weather conditions, combined with wet and slippery roads, led to eight serious accidents in which one person was killed and at least 15 vehicles damaged.

Out-of-order traffic lights at the Hans Strijdom Drive and R21 junction caused back-ups, with commuters complaining of being stuck in traffic for up to 30 minutes, while thousands of residents in Hennops Park, Pretoria Central, Eldoraigne, East Lynne and Jan Niemand Park woke to power outages.

City and Pretoria West motorists were forced to take cover after a sudden hailstorm at lunchtime.

On Wednesday the South African Weather Service warned that icy conditions would continue on Thursday.

The Pretoria weather office’s Venetia Magane said the two cold fronts sweeping across the south-western parts of the country would continue to bring cold weather to the city for the next couple of days.

She said the temperatures on Thursday were expected to drop to 4°C while the maximum would be a mere 17°C.

Magane said her advice to people was to stay indoors if possible and to wrap up warmly if venturing outdoors.

“It is going to be very cold over the next couple of days with temperatures only beginning to rise slightly over the weekend,” she said.

She said Wednesday’s average rainfall of 33mm in the city was very unusual for this time of the year.

Magane said: “We are not expecting any more downpours and [continue reading]

Brace yourself for extreme winter

source: IOL
Staff Writer
June 04 2007 at 07:25AM

Brace yourselves. That’s the word from the Weather Service, as the cold front that hits the Western Cape on Monday morning brings heavy rain, huge seas and very cold conditions spreading as far as the Northern Cape.

In a special weather warning on Sunday, the Weather Service said that the cold, wet and windy conditions would spread to the mountain areas of the Western Cape.

And deep sea swells of about 3,5 metres are expected by this evening and will start pounding the coast. But that’s just the beginning: by sunrise on Tuesday the swell will have increased to a 4,8m, peaking at 5,3m by sunset.

The good news for surfers able to take time off in the week is that the swell will maintain a height of between 3,3m and 3,9m until Friday afternoon.

Heavy rain is forecast for Monday and most of Tuesday, accompanied by strong to near gale force north winds.

The National Sea Rescue Institute has issued a special warning to users of the sea to take extra precautions over the next few days, as the big swell, combined with the effect of Friday night’s spring tides will bring stronger than normal rip tides and deep sea currents.

Meanwhile, the City of Cape Town said on Sunday that it had put in place a comprehensive plan to deal with expected flooding and other disasters.

In a statement, the city said that the plan provides for clearing and upgrading of stormwater systems, drains, inspections of retention ponds, public education and a disaster management plan.

“The preventative maintenance is well under way. This work includes cleaning silt and other [continue reading]

Another chilly night

source: news245
23/05/2007 17:51 – (SA)
Johannesburg – Much of South Africa can expect another freezing night on Wednesday, as the costs of this week’s cold spell mounted.

Standerton in Mpumalanga was expecting the lowest minimum temperature of -8° C on Thursday, the Weather Bureau said.

Ermelo and Bloemfontein were forecast to freeze at -6, while Sutherland in the Northern Cape expected temperatures of minus seven.

At least 22 people have died of cold in different parts of the country this week.

The death toll in the Eastern Cape stood at 15. The latest fatality was a woman who appeared to have fallen down in the veld near Centane on her way home.

Her body was found on Tuesday.

“It is believed that the icy weather killed the woman,” said police spokesperson Captain Jackson Manatha.

Seven people were reported to have died in weather-related incidents in Gauteng.

On Tuesday night, a woman and her son from Nellmapius, east of Pretoria died after inhaling fumes from [continue reading]